Source: Lindsay Lohan decides to make L.A. court date

By Alan Duke, CNN

Updated 5:36 AM ET, Wed January 30, 2013

Lindsay Lohan in trouble10 photos

Actress Lindsay Lohan has had numerous legal troubles over the past eight years, including arrests for drunken driving, reckless driving and shoplifting. Here are six of her booking mug shots, from top left to bottom right: July 2007, November 2007, July 2010, September 2010, October 2011 and March 2013. Lohan is finally off probation after completing 125 hours of community servce.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble10 photos

Lohan poses for a mug shot in March 2013 after accepting 90 days in a "locked-in" drug rehab facility for misdemeanor charges. Her legal troubles trace back to two drunken-driving arrests in 2007.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble10 photos

Lohan appears in court with her attorneys Anthony Falangetti, left, and Mark Heller in Los Angeles in March 2013. She entered pleas of no contest on two misdemeanor charges relating to a 2012 traffic accident, and she did not challenge the finding that she violated her shoplifting probation with those convictions.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble10 photos

Lohan attends her probation hearing in March 2012 in Los Angeles. Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner took Lohan off probation from a 2007 drunken driving case and said that she will no longer have to meet with a probation officer or appear in court on her 2011 shoplifting case, as long as she obeys all laws through May 2014.

Lohan's mug shot from October 2011 after she was arrested for probation violations. She was released after posting $100,000 bail.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble10 photos

Lohan is led away in handcuffs at her probation progress report hearing in Los Angeles in October 2011.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble10 photos

Lohan cries next to her lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley as she is sentenced to 90 days in jail by Judge Marsha Revel during her hearing at the Beverly Hills Courthouse in July 2010. Lohan violated her probation in two 2007 drunk driving cases.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble10 photos

Lohan poses for a booking photo after being arrested on DUI charges at Lynwood Jail in November 2007. Lohan voluntarily reported to the facility to serve her minimum 24-hour jail sentence that was part of a plea bargain for two DUI charges.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble10 photos

Lohan's mug shot from July 2007 for driving under the influence.

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Story highlights

Lohan flying to Los Angeles for court hearing

Doctor initially told judge Lohan too ill to make flight

The judge must decide which lawyer is representing Lohan

Lohan faces up to 245 days behind bars if found in violation of her probation

Lindsay Lohan, previously described as being too ill to make the trip, was on a Tuesday evening flight to Los Angeles to make a court hearing, a source close to the actress said.

Earlier Tuesday, it was believed that Lohan, 26, was staying in New York. Her longtime lawyer, Shawn Holley, has asked the judge to release her from the case.

New York lawyer Mark Heller, who is not licensed to practice law in California, was flying to Los Angeles to represent Lohan on Wednesday. According to the source, Lohan decided to appear in court.

A Los Angeles judge ordered the actress to appear in court on a probation violation charge and accusations that she lied to a police officer about a car crash last summer.

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Lohan's convoluted path through the legal system began with a drunken driving arrest nearly six years ago, but her struggles with drugs and alcohol have sent her to five rehab facilities for 250 days since January 2007.

Heller filed a doctor's note with the court saying Lohan was too ill to make the cross-country flight this week.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner may have noticed tabloid photos published Tuesday purporting to show Lohan shopping in New York over the weekend -- with no apparent signs of illness. Sautner has taken note of tabloid reporting of Lohan's exploits and excesses in past hearings, advising her to "live your life in a more mature way, stop the nightclubbing and focus on your work."

Lohan knew she had to be in California and had the responsibility to make the trip with time to spare. A previous judge issued a bench warrant for her arrest when Lohan missed a hearing, claiming she was stuck in France because her passport was stolen.

Heller filed a letter signed by Lohan with the court earlier this month saying she was dismissing Holley, a well-respected Los Angeles lawyer, and hiring Heller, whose reputation was marred in 1994 when the state supreme court suspended him from practicing law for five years.

California Bar rules require an out-of-state lawyer to have a licensed California lawyer sponsor him. The lawyer who is sponsoring Heller's application to represent Lohan in California reactivated her license this month; it had been inactive for 17 years.

If Judge Sautner rejects Heller's request to represent Lohan, she could require Holley to remain on the case. Or the sponsoring lawyer, who has little courtroom experience, could be left with the case.

Good representation and a receptive judge are important for Lohan's freedom. She could be ordered to spend 245 days behind bars if found in violation of her probation for her shoplifting conviction. The charge of lying to a police officer could also carry jail time.

Wednesday's hearing is to deal with issues ahead of a trial set for next month.

Lohan has appeared in court at least 20 times before four Los Angeles judges. She has been found in violation of probation five times and sentenced to a total of six months in jail. Still, she spent less than two weeks behind bars in her six trips to the Los Angeles County jail. Measures to relieve jail overcrowding led to her release after just hours in all but one of those visits. Lohan did spend 35 days confined to her Venice, California, home.

Lohan also served about 67 days of community service, mostly working at the L.A. County morgue.